Unit Working Title: Who Am I?

– Harnessing Identity Through Language

Unit “Big Idea” (Concept/Theme): Reclaiming Identity in Language Variations

Unit Primary Skill focus: Code-Switching

Week __1__ of 4; Plan #__1__ of 9; [90 mins.]

Plan type: Full-Detail

Content Requirement Satisfied:

(Note: Refer to the list in the document called “Concept Unit Lesson Plans”)

Unit Learning Objectives (numbered) [from my Backwards Design Unit Document],

followed by Specific lesson objectives (lettered) being taught in this lesson:

Cognitive (know/understand):

8. Students will be able to demonstrate respect for one another.

a. Students will understand that norms are necessary to build a classroom community.

b. Students will understand that norms are based off of respect for one another.

Performance (do):

8. Students will be able to demonstrate respect for one another.

c. Students will know how to show respect towards their peers and teachers.

Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:

d. Students will be able to demonstrate what respect looks like.

e. Students will be able to begin coming up with classroom norms.

SOL’s:
7.1 The student will participate in and contribute to conversations, group discussions, and oral
presentations.
d) Use language and style appropriate to audience, topic, and purpose.

CCS’s:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types
are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
Methods of Assessment:
[How will you know if the intended learning occurred?] List all methods of assessment used in
this lesson or which are related to this lesson and come in a future lesson. After each assessment,
indicate in brackets the number(s) and letter(s) of the unit objective and the related lesson
objectives that the assessment is evaluating.

Diagnostic Formative Summative

Title of assessment tool: Title of assessment tool: Title of assessment tool:

Mini-Lesson Think-Pair-Share “Into the World Project”
Students will ultimately be
Students will demonstrate Students will show their assessed on their ability to
what they already know progress toward code switch, and their respect
about respect by being able demonstrating respect for one for language variations (today
to articulate why we should another by answering or in a future lesson) by
establish norms in the questions individually, and creating a project that
classroom. then having a group discussion demonstrates their ability to
about what respect looks like, code-switch in a chosen
Criteria: and means to them. language variation, explain it,
I will be evaluating their and show their respect towards
answers to see if they are Criteria: other language variations, by
able to voice what a positive I am looking for students to not mocking them and
and respectful learning express the necessity of supporting their fellow students
environment looks like. I am respect in the classroom, in in their research and
expecting them to be able to order to be able to work with exploration.
explain why we need to show one another. They will be
respect towards one another. expected to be able to define Criteria:
what respect looks like, and There will be a summative
How data will be used: how it is demonstrated in a assessment rubric where
I will be using their answers classroom setting. students will demonstrate their
to write the class norms, and ability to code-switch, their
create a positive learning How data will be used: respect towards other language
community. It will also allow This will allow me to gauge variations, and how they feel
me to gauge what their not only the students’ language is a part of their own
expectations are for the individual expectations and identity.
classroom. understanding of respect for
their peers, and in the How data will be used:
How students will receive classroom, but also how the The data will be used to give
feedback: students interact with one the students a final grade, and
Students will be receiving another. By having them work also to gauge if by the end of
verbal feedback from me in groups, I will able to this unit they were able to gain
during the activity. I will help observe how they collaborate a better understanding overall
guide their thinking, and the together. on language variations in
written and oral literature.
 creation of the class norms as How students will receive
a whole class. feedback: How students will receive
Students will be receiving feedback:
feedback from their peers Students will be getting both
during the sharing portion of written peer feedback during
the activity, as well as oral their final project gallery walk
feedback from me. I will be on the final day of the unit, and
circulating each group, and written feedback from myself
giving the groups feedback. I on the summative assessment
will also be giving oral as a whole. My feedback will
feedback during the whole be given after the final projects
class share time. are submitted, so a few days
after the last day of the unit.
They will also be receiving a
final grade as feedback.

Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my profiled students:

(This is where you identify specific aspects of this lesson which have been differentiated in order
to address the needs of one or more of your profiled students—identify them by name).
What have you done (visible in the lesson plan procedures) that differentiates for the a)
readiness, b) interests, and/or c) learning environment for your profile students.

Student Name Readiness Interest Learning

Environment
Ilyas On grade level (7th Ilyas is always a very Flexible seating is
grade). dynamic student, that is available for him. I
interested in participating in also make sure to
the class discussion, and provide visuals with
chatting with his fellow instructions about
students. This supports his what to do. I equally
class participation and go up to him and
group learning. It is also check in to make sure
challenging because at that he fully
times his enthusiasm turns understands the
into him calling out in activity and see if I
class. I help support him by can do anything to
reminding him that he further clarify for him
needs to raise his hand to or help in any way.
participate in whole class
discussions, and also build
in a lot of group discussions
for him to participate in.

Procedures/Instructional Strategies
Each step should have bolded heading that identifies the activity, and then is followed by the
teacher scripting, student and teacher actions, and a description of the activity.
[Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.]

Beginning Room Arrangement:

[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted in the plan]
Students will be expected to come in and sit at their assigned seats, there will be no changes in
the seating today or throughout the lesson. The seats are arranged as base groups with the
students in six groups of four students. The classroom is arranged in this manner, so that the
students always have an elbow-partner to work with, and are easily be able to do group work,
without disrupting the class’ seating arrangement, or getting up. I will have hand-written the “Do
Now” on the board (See Appendix A), before the students come into the classroom. That way I
can focus on being present and greeting them as they enter the room.

1. [_5_mins.] Welcome/ “Do Now”

Hi y’all! Welcome in, as you walk in, you will notice that there are name tents on each table,
please find your name, get settled at that table, and get started on the ice-breaker “Do Now” I
have up on the board.
(While students are getting settled, I will be circulating the room, and greeting students, asking
them how they are doing, how their summer was, and making sure they are all finding their
names.)

Alright, I hope y’all had a little bit of time to quickly get to know who is in your group for today.
My name is Ms. Vibes and I am really excited to get to know y’all this year! I thought that a good
way to start today off would be by getting to know a little bit about each other. We are going to
be doing a few ice breakers during the next classes to build our classroom community, so I’m
excited to get started!

2. [_20_mins.] “Snow Ball Fight”

This first ice-breaker is called a “Snowball Fight”, has anyone ever played this before (See
Appendix A)? No? Great then let me explain the rules of the game. At your table, you will see
three white Post-its and three yellow Post-its. The white is the clean snow and the yellow is, well,
the not so clean snow. This doesn’t really mean anything, it’s just a funny way of being able to
partner up during the game. Since y’all are in groups of 6, I would like y’all to split the Post-its,
and on them, I would like y’all to answer the questions that are projected on the board. I am also
going to be answering them, so that y’all can learn a little bit about me too. I’m gonna give y’all
about 5 minutes to answer them, and then we are going to come back together for the next part.
Any questions? Alright, let’s get started.

(Here I will be answering the questions so that I can participate with the students, and also model
on this first day of school how I want them to be working.)

Looks like y’all are done with the questions, let’s go on and move to the next part. Now I want
y’all to take the Post-it and crumble them up into tight balls, like snowballs. Next, I would like
y’all to quickly and quietly, get up, and form two lines facing each other. The one on the left of
me will be the yellow snow, and the one on the right will be the white snow. Great, that was so
quick and organized thanks y’all. Ok now listen closely, when I say go, I want y’all to start
throwing the snowballs, and keep throwing them until I say stop – ready, set, go!

(Here the students will throw for about 20 seconds.)

Ok. If you had a white snowball, make sure you are picking up a yellow snowball, and if you had
yellow to begin, make sure your snowball now is white. Now I would like the yellow snow balls
ONLY to open their snowballs. I want the yellows to go around the room and figure out whose
snow ball you have. Take about a minute. Alright, now I want y’all to introduce yourselves to
your partner and for the people whose answers they were to spend 3 minutes talking about them.

Alright. Now we are going to go around the room and the person with the yellow snow ball will
introduce us to their partner and explain their partner’s answers.
Great job y’all. We are now going to have all of the white snowballs open their balls up and look
for the persons whose answers you have. Go ahead and introduce yourselves when you’ve found
your partner and you can answer the questions!
Let’s go ahead and do the final partner share!
Great job y’all, I am so glad we got to get to know one another a little better and get moving a
little bit this early in the morning. Let’s get back to our desks and get started on this next part!

3. [_20_mins.] Mini-Lesson on Norms & Expectations

Now, I would like to spend some time establishing some norms and expectations for the school
year, and for our classroom community. I know there are a lot of different personalities,
backgrounds and cultures here, so I want us to really create an environment where everyone
feels safe, welcome, and heard. So, to begin, why do y’all think we should even have norms in the
classroom? What does that do for us, or for our classroom?

(Here I will give students a few minutes and brainstorm and answer the question, some expected
answers may be:
 It builds community.
 We know what to expect.
 We are all equal, and know that there are equal expectations.)

Those are great. And super important to keep in mind. Norms, help not only me to run a
classroom, but also, they hold us all accountable. We know the minute we walk in what is
allowed or not allowed in the classroom. That way if a conflict arises it also helps us figure out
how to solve it, without it escalating. Now let’s think about why y’all think it is important to set
classroom norms as a whole class, and not just have me handing you a list of rules?

(Here I will give students a few minutes and brainstorm and answer the question, some expected
answers may be:
 Because in a community we should all have a voice.
 If we help create the norms, we can also be accountable.
 We can’t say that we didn’t know the expectations.
 It means that you respect us as equals in this room.)
Those are all awesome, and true answers. I think that it is so important for all of us to see
ourselves as equals in this class. As all being able to make mistakes, to forgive, to be able to take
academic risks, and to be able to work together. If we are all held to the same standards, then we
also will all know what to do if things do go wrong, or if things get tough.

4. [_25_mins.] Think-Pair-Share
Now, what I would like us to do, is take some time doing what is called a think-pair-share. I’m
sure many of y’all have done this before, but I am going to go over what this is. First, I would
like y’all to work independently and “think” about some of the questions I am going to post on
the board. Next, y’all are going to “pair” with your table groups and discuss what y’all wrote
individually, and finally we are going to “share” as a whole class. Alright so for this part I
would like y’all to get out something to write with, either pen and paper, or your laptops. I am
going to give y’all about 5 minutes to answer the first questions independently. Any questions –
alright, get started! (See Appendix A)

(Here I will be walking around, and checking in with students that seem to be struggling. It will
also give me a good opportunity to see how different students work independently.)

Great job y’all. Now y’all can go ahead and take about 8 minutes discussing with your tables
what y’all have come up with.

(Here I will try to spend about 2 minutes with each of the groups, discussing what they have
come up with, and listening to how they work in groups. It will give me a better idea of how they
collaborate and participate in groups. I will also be able to hear a wide variety of student answers
during this time.)

Alright, let’s all come back together. How was that? Good, I’m glad y’all enjoyed it. I really
liked the opportunity to go around and listen to all of the different groups. There were some very
similar and very different things being said. Let’s spend the next couple minutes going around
each group and having y’all share what y’all talked about.
(Here I will give groups the opportunity to go around and share what they talked about)

Alright, now the last activity I would like y’all to do, is look back and what y’all wrote for the
question “what does respect mean to you?”. I would like y’all to each brainstorm an adjective or
a phrase that comes to mind when y’all think about respect, whether it is here or anywhere else.
For example, when I think of “respect”, I think of listening to others.
Take about 2-3 minutes to brainstorm. You can do it individually, or in your base groups if you
like.

(Here I will give students about 2-3 minutes to brainstorm.)

Alright, now that y’all have brainstormed some adjectives and phrases, I would like some
volunteers to come up and write those adjectives on the board. Y’all can feel free to rotate who
writes for your group.
(Here I will give students about 3-5 minutes to write on the board.)

Does anyone what to talk about their adjective? Or share why they came up with that?

(Here I will give students 2-4 minutes to share their adjective choices.)

5. [_15_mins] Presenting Unit Terms:

Y’all have doing a great job staying on task today! Good work. I want to go ahead and spend the
next fifteen minutes talking about what is going to be happening during this unit, and introducing
some key terms. We are going to be learning about language variations, and how they are a part
of our identities. Does anyone know what a language variation is?

Will: Language variations are basically different ways of saying the same thing in a language.

Great job, Will. Yes, language variations are the different ways we can express things. For
example, some people address a group of people as “you guys”, some say “you all”, some will
say “y’all”. Those are all language variations.
With that in mind, do you notice how all of the examples I gave are ways we all speak? I want
y’all to think about this question: do y’all believe there is such a thing as “good” or “bad”
English. Go ahead and take a few minutes to discuss this at your tables.

(Here I will give students about 3-5 minutes to discuss this question in their base groups.)

So, what did y’all come up with?

Mia: I think that there is bad English, if like the spelling is wrong or it’s bad grammar, but if
someone just says things differently, then that’s not wrong.

Will: I think there are stereotypes, but no “bad” English, each variation has its own way of
writing and saying things.

That’s awesome thinking y’all. And I’m glad y’all have brought up stereotypes, and grammar
patterns, because we will be learning about all of those during our unit.
I want to talk about one last term before we wrap up for the day. So y’all brought up this idea
that language variations are just different ways of expressing the same thing. Has anyone ever
heard of the term code-switching? Take about 2 minutes to think about that with your base
group.

(Here I will give students 2 minutes to discuss in their base groups what they think this means.)

Did anyone come up with an answer?

(I am not really expecting students to know the answer to this, so I will let them share what they
have discussed, and then provide an answer for them.)
So, code-switching is the practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of
language. So exactly like the examples I gave earlier. It has nothing to do with being right or
wrong. It also will depend on who you are talking to or writing for, what your audience is at that
specific moment.
Any questions? Seeing none, let’s go ahead and wrap things up!

6. [_5_mins] Exit Slip/Closure

Great job today y’all! It was so great to meet everyone and I am looking forward to this year. I
am passing out a student survey that I would like y’all to please fill out for our next meeting. This
is all the homework you will have for next class. (See Appendix B) Have a wonderful day!

Materials Needed (list):

o Overhead projector
o PowerPoint
o Post-It Notes
o White Board

Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,

handouts, etc.)
Appendix A: Power Point

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uLZYZ7t_JPWoKgH8tFv4PhX0Mchz1_sKzhwUSDM
SZ6U/edit#slide=id.g36257fc156_0_0
Appendix B: Student Survey

“About Me” Student Survey

Preferred Name:

Class:

 Do you speak any other language(s), if so is this the language you speak at home?

 What is your favorite class, or activity? Why?

 Do you belong to any organizations, teams, or clubs in and out of school? Which ones?

 Do you have any major events coming up this year that you would like me to know
about?

 What is your #LIFEGOAL?

 Think back to teachers from your past. Give an example of an experience with a teacher
that you felt was very helpful and give another example of an experience that made
learning difficult. Explain both of your choices:
 When you’re having a bad day, how do you cope? How do you want others to interact
with you?

 Let’s say that you made the schedule for one day of class, but you had to teach something
English-related. What would you teach about?

 If you could have a meal with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

 Is there anything else you want me to know about you?